Dick Van Dyke, 99, addresses 45-year age hole with spouse Arlene, 53, that ‘everybody stated would not work’

From Mary Poppins and The Music Man to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Night time on the Museum, Dick Van Dyke is an absolute legend of the stage and display screen.

Now 99-years-old, he began off as a radio DJ within the late Forties earlier than making his identify in comedy and debuting on Broadway in 1959.

And for the previous 13 years of his unbelievable life, Van Dyke has been married to Arlene Silver.

They first met on the SAG Awards again in 2006 when she was working as a make-up artist. The Disney legend then went on to rent her for different initiatives earlier than tying the knot in February 2012.

In a current interview, Van Dyke addressed their 45-year age hole as they’ve continued to show folks improper.

“All people stated it wouldn’t work,” he told PEOPLE as his 53-year-old spouse added: “Yeah. I imply it is like eerie how nicely it really works. Individuals the identical age do not final.”

Along with his marriage of 13 years working easily, the Dick Van Dyke Present star credited it to the pair getting ‘alongside so nicely’.

“We simply care about one another a lot,” Silver added.

The icon additionally opened up extra in regards to the time they first met as he admitted he’d ‘by no means’ gone up and stated hello to ‘a wierd woman’ in his life earlier than.

“I used to be too scared,” Van Dyke confessed. “However I used to be at a present backstage and he or she walked by, and for some cause, I simply jumped up and stated, ‘Hello, I am Dick.’ There’s one thing about her and bought me, and I used to be proper.”

Silver stated her husband has made her really feel like she ‘can do something’.

“And you’ll,” he chimed in as she added: “Very supportive of one another.”

Van Dyke turned the oldest individual ever to compete on The Masked Singer in 2023 when he appeared as ‘Gnome’ on the of 97.

The episode of season 9 was promoted as ‘essentially the most legendary, embellished and beloved unmasking in historical past’ and when his identification was revealed, the viewers and judges gave him a prolonged standing ovation.

He was the primary to be eradicated however earlier than he left the stage, he gave an encore along with his a part of the Mary Poppins track ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’.

Van Dyke additionally works on challenge with Silver, because the pair produced Coldplay’s music video for ‘All My Love’, launched in December final yr, which he additionally had a starring position in.